Dragons and Aliens
by The Prime Writer
Summary: After getting into another argument with Gwen, Ben and his cousin end up trapped in another dimension after they break the Null Void Projector: a world inhabited by Dragons and Vikings. They end up meeting a boy named Hiccup and some of his friends and facing down enemies old and new. Just another summer in the lives of the Tennysons.
1. Another Summer, Another Big Adventure

**What's up people, The Prime Writer is back with the new and improved version of Dragons and Aliens, and this time I can guarantee that I will finish the story this time. This story will be significantly shorter then t****he original story was going to be and there'll be more chapters made by myself, mostly due to the fact that I'm not starting near the beginning of the TV series, and as said before, there will be a few Ben 10 villains making appearances, but not a whole lot. The new starting point for this fanfiction is during the two-part episode of the TV series _To View A Skrill_, and as stated previously, Ben will be getting his dragon first this time around instead of Gwen, and they don't meet any of the HTTYD characters until after a couple chapters. If anyone has any idea what's going to happen or what could happen, I will give them a shout-out, and I will take any and all ideas into consideration.**

**Anything having to do with Ben 10 belongs to Man of Action and Cartoon Network, and anything related to Dreamworks Dragons belongs to Dreamworks Animation and Cartoon Network. The stories and situations depicted in this story will be modified by me and are for entertainment purposes only, with no intention of making a profit from these chapters. Reviews, comments, and constructive criticisms are welcomed and appreciated, while any flames I find will be ignored and forgotten; I will ask that no one leaves any flames, and if you don't like this story, then just go read something else.**

**Now that this is all out of the way, we can get on with the story, and I hope that you all enjoy this second attempt at one of my first stories, Dragons and Aliens; if you don't like it, then I won't argue with it.**

* * *

Chapter 1: Another Summer, Another Big Adventure.

* * *

To many people, the slightly beat-up looking RV driving down a small Ohio road would seem fairly normal, and the people within it equally so. How wrong those people would be. Within the RV were three people, two 11-year-old cousins and their 60-year-old paternal grandfather.

One of those children is a brown-haired Caucasian boy with green eyes and wearing dark-green cargo-pants, a white short-sleeved shirt with a black stripe going down the middle, and white shoes, with a bulky green-and-black wristwatch on his left arm.

The other 11-year-old was a girl with orangey-red hair held back by a hairclip and green eyes wearing a blue shirt with a cat logo, white pants, and a pair of white converse shoes.

Their grandfather has white hair, brown eyes, a bit of a pot-belly, and a few wrinkles on his face, and is wearing a red button-up shirt with a floral design over a white undershirt, blue-jeans, and black shoes.

In order, they are Ben Tennyson, Gwen Tennyson, and Max Tennyson, and they are far from a normal bunch of vacationeers.

It all began at the beginning of last summer, when their Grandpa Max took them camping outside Ben's hometown of Bellwood. Ben went on a walk to get away from Gwen when what he though was a shooting star landed right in front of him. It turned out to be a pod of extraterrestrial origin, and when Ben approached it, it revealed the very same watch now on his wrist. What he didn't know at the time was that it wasn't a watch, but a highly advance piece of extraterrestrial technology called the Omnitrix, which attached to his wrist and fused with his DNA.

The Omnitrix itself is a device containing the DNA of at least 10,000 alien species, and is able to turn the wearer of the Omnitrix into any one of these beings for a short amount of time. It was created by a Galvan named Azmuth as a way for other beings to, both literally and figuratively, walk a mile in another being's shoes. However, there were a number of brigands, warlords, criminals, and crime-lords who learned of the Omnitrix and desired to use it for more nefarious purposes, prompting Azmuth to send the Omnitrix into deep space to prevent anyone from misusing its power.

However, a powerful and extremely dangerous alien warlord named Vilgax learned of its location and nearly gained the device for himself. An old colleague and romantic interest of Max named Xylene spirited away the Omnitrix and attempted to keep it safe by sending it to Max, but it ended up in the hands of Max's grandson Ben. Since gaining the Omnitrix, Ben has used it time and time again to help others and stop crooks, villains, and basically anyone who wishes to harm others...but he's not above using the device for his own use every now-and-again. Ben has also expanded his line-up of aliens from the original 10 to a total of 30, each with their own unique powers and abilities.

Ben is not alone in his adventures and heroics, and half the time he needs some help. His cousin Gwen will often help him by doing research on her laptop on any foes they might encounter or on any crimes or strange sightings they might need to investigate, and she's also taken multiple lessons in gymnastics and martial arts. In addition to these talents and her natural intellect and intuition, Gwen is also a powerful spellcaster who's learned a number of mystic spells and gestures through both practice and experience. On two occasions last summer, she donned a Mardi Gras costume bought from a vendor in New Orleans and took the name Lucky Girl and helped Ben on some of his missions, and generally helped Ben by giving him tactical and strategic advice.

Their Grandpa Max is also involved in numerous missions, helping with his experience, his military and astronaut training, and his time as a Plumber. Not a plumber as in a toilet-fixer as his grandchildren once believed, but instead as a member of and inter-galactic police force that considered Max one of their most talented and decorated agents, granting him great knowledge of extraterrestrials and their technology...and a taste for unusual food.

His RV, the Rustbucket, has actually been upgraded and enhanced with alien technology, and is equipped with lasers, rocket-launchers, thrusters, bungee-cables, a rammer, an autopilot, an electrical-discharger, a top-speed of 300 MPH, and plumber-issue tracking systems, not to mention the various Plumber tools and weapons that he stores in the Rustbucket.

Max Tennyson has faced down hundreds of beings and experienced many things in his life, but there's always been one thing that he can never escape: the arguing of his grandkids.

* * *

"Give me the remote doofus!" yelled Gwen, trying to take the TV remote from Ben.

"Yeah right dweeb, the Sumo Slammers Mega Marathon is starting in 20 minutes, and I don't want to miss one second of it.", said Ben while barely keeping the remote out of Gwen's reach.

"I think you can live with missing a few hours of cartoons." Ben retorted with "Actually Gwen, it's a 10-hour marathon."

"All the more reason for me to make sure that you don't get the remote; I will not miss my favorite TV show because you want to hog the TV all to yourself".

Finally Grandpa Max had had enough. "Would the two of you _please stop **fighting**_?!"That finally getting them to settle down, though they still glared at each other.

Max sighed and looked at them as he pulled into the station. "Look you two, I'm going to stop at this gas station and refuel, maybe get some snacks. I think the two of you can get along for a few minutes."

Before leaving the RV, Max sent Ben a warning look. "Oh and Ben, no alien mischief of any sort, or you will be missing that marathon, got it?"

A now timid-looking Ben replied "Got it." And with that, Max left the Rustbucket. Ben then proceeded to flop down on his bed and press a pair of buttons on the side of the Omnitrix. The center of the Omnitrix then popped up and started glowing, and a silhouette of one of the aliens appeared in the middle of the dial, which Gwen was quick to notice. "Ben, you heard that Grandpa said no going alien."

Ben, as usual, didn't listen. "He said no causing trouble while an alien; he didn't ban going alien specifically."

Gwen decided to just stop arguing and let Ben get into trouble. "Ugh, whatever; since neither of the shows we want to watch comes on until 8:00 A.M., I am going to spend some time on my laptop."

Ben ignored her and started scrolling through the selection to help cure his boredom. "Okay, lets see; I could change into XLR8 and go for a quick run, go Stinkfly and fly around for a bit, or maybe turn into Greymatter and see what I can tinker with."

Gwen looked up from her laptop at that. "If that tinkering is going to turn out like what you did to the radio last week, then I wouldn't."

The memory of that incident made Ben indignant. "Hey that was an accident and you know it."

Gwen stared at him blankly. "The Rustbucket was filled with smoke for hours, and it took Grandpa 3 days to fix the radio."

Ben finally relented. "Fine, no Greymatter." Ben turned the dial again and saw a relatively recent addition to his arsenal. "Huh, here's that mummy I used back at Cape Canaveral. Never did come up with a name for him."

Gwen looked up briefly from her laptop. "What about the werewolf and the Dr. Victor forms."

Ben shrugged and answered "Same with them. Okay, lets see, for the mummy, I'll go with EgyptAlien, for the Victor copy, Conductorstein. Got any ideas for the werewolf?"

Gwen smirked as she listed potential names. "Fangy, Furface, Manwolf."

Ben stared at her with an annoyed look. "Okay, those first two were just silly, and that last one sounds way too generic." Gwen just shrugged and replied with "Hey, you asked."

"Okay then, the best name I can come up for the werewolf is Thunderhowl." Gwen just looked at something on her laptop, much to his annoyance. Then he glanced at the wall-clock.

"The marathon's about to start!" Gwen looked at the clock in mild alarm. "Wait, What? so is my show!" They both stared at the remote for a few seconds before glancing at each other; then began their usual scramble for the remote.

"Ben, give me that remote!"

"Sorry doofus, not going to happen."

While that was going on, they were moving around the Rustbucket in their attempts to grab the remote, causing items to be knocked off the counter and something else to fall out of its compartment. That something is a Null Void Projector, a handgun-like device with a sphere at the end designed to open portals to the Null Void, an alternate dimension used to house some of the galaxy's most heinous criminals. Ben and Gwen were too busy fighting for the remote to notice the Projector lying on the floor...until Ben stepped on it, causing them to trip and fall.

Gwen noticed the Projector first and picked it up. "What the? How did the Null Void Projector get on the floor?" Ben was much more nonchalant about it.

"Chillax Gwen, at least it isn't broken." Just as he said that, the Projector started sparking, shocking Gwen and causing her to drop it. The sparking began increasing in volume and the device started glowing, causing them to stare at it with worried looks.

"I think I just jinxed it." Gwen sarcastically replied with "Oh gee Ben, you think!?" The glowing and sparking then reached its peak, prompting them to close their eyes as a large flash sounded.

* * *

Outside, Max had just exited the gas station with some snacks and drinks for his grandchildren when he saw a golden flash coming from the Rustbucket. He sighed in annoyance and uttered "What have they done this time?"

Max entered the Rustbucket and, instead of seeing Ben and Gwen fighting, he saw a sparking Null Void Projector on the floor, filling his face with worry as he uttered "Oh no."

* * *

In another world, on an island in the middle of a great sea, the morning sun had just started rising over the horizon, illuminating the island and its plant-life in a bright golden light. The silence that reigned was interrupted when a strange golden light appeared out of nowhere, scaring off all birds in the vicinity. When the light faded, Ben and Gwen Tennyson were seen lying on the ground, waiting for their eyes to stop stinging. When they opened their eyes, they were understandably confused by their surroundings.

"So, any idea where we are?" In response to that, the already frustrated Gwen smacked Ben on the back of the head...hard. "What was that for!?"

"For asking a dumb question doofus! We've gotten trapped far away from home, probably in another dimension, all because you kept trying to take the remote!"

"Technically Gwen, it's both our faults." At that, Gwen let out a frustrated growl and sat down on a nearby rock with a deep scowl and crossed arms. Ben approached with a guilty look on his face

"Okay, I know things look bad right now Gwen, but things could be worse. We're not in the Null Void and Grandpa Max is still back at the Rustbucket. He'll probably notice that something went wrong with the Projector and try to fix it. He's done it before."

Gwen calmed slightly, but not very much. "News flash Ben, the Null Void Projector is only supposed to send us to one place: **the Null Void!** It's not supposed to send anyone to some tree-covered place right by the ocean."

Ben's confident composure never wavered. "Still, we know that Grandpa Max won't give up on us, that much is obvious. Until then, working together is our best chance of getting out of this situation alive. With my Omnitrix and your magic, we have a fighting chance."

Gwen eyed her cousin suspiciously "Since when have you been so willing to work with me?"

Ben's response was a nonchalant "Since we got ourselves trapped in another dimension. Just another summer for us."

Gwen smiled and got off the rock. "You just might be my cousin after all." Ben smiled back before looking around. "So...any idea where we're supposed to head?"

Gwen pointed towards the forest. "Our best chance is to head inland and find some high ground so that we can see how big the island is and what resources we have at out disposal.

Ben just gestured to some of the surrounding plant-life. "I can see resources: trees, trees, and more trees. Oh, and some berries." Ben instantly moved to eat some of the bright red berries on a nearby bush, but Gwen stopped him before he reached them.

"Whoa there Ben. Remember the Diarrhea you got when you were 7? From when you ate those berries on that camping trip?"

Ben cringed and backed away from the bush. "Yeah, don't remind be." With that, they began marching into the forest, with no idea of what they were going to find.

"You know something Gwen?" Gwen looked at her cousin with a curious expression. "Yeah Ben?"

"I have a feeling that something good is going to happen." That piqued her curiosity. "What makes you say that?"

"I just have a feeling." Gwen shrugged and responded with "If you say so." They continued to walk in silence, knowing that whatever happened, they would always have each others back.

* * *

Far from where Ben and Gwen appeared out of thin air was a mountainous, foggy, foreboding island that seemed to rise from the deep like a massive abyssal predator searching for its next meal. The island is known to those nearby as Demon Isle, for it has a long history of seemingly supernatural phenomena. For years, ships that sailed to close to the isle have gotten lost in the dense fog and end up crashing among the spiky rocks and sea-stacks that jut out from the sea, and any survivors that come back report seeing and hearing strange things on that island.

Spirits and demons are said to be seen and heard in the forest and among the ruined stone buildings that dot the island, trolls and goblins are said to live in the deepest reaches of the forest and the caves that litter the mountain and cliffs, dragons unlike any to be found anywhere else wait in the shadows for their next meals, and for the past year, it is said that a werewolf lives on the island and attacks anyone who washes ashore on the island. Even fewer people have returned from the island since the werewolf was first sighted, and those that do make it back seem to be scared beyond all reason.

There are some who believe that the stories are simply folktales or exaggerations of known natural creatures and phenomena brought about by fear and paranoia. They would be right to an extent; the legends of spirits, demons, trolls, and goblins are imagined and exaggerated by various survivors, but the legend of the werewolf is no legend at all. In fact, that werewolf has just now finished his day-patrol of the island and is heading to the small camp he calls home, along with a few other unusual beings.

The werewolf himself is a strongly-built being covered in blue-grey fur with a darker-colored mane running from the back of his skull to his tail, with razor-sharp teeth and claws and fuchsia-colored eyes. Some of the body parts on his right side have been replaced with silvery metal, including his entire right arm and part of the right side of his face.

He entered the main tent and saw the other two inhabitants of the island. One was a mummy-like being consisting of brown cloth-like strips with a red and gold chiton and headpiece and fuchsia-colored glowing stripes on his chest, legs, and shoulders. The other was a green-skinned being with fuchsia-colored eyes, the right eye being larger then the left, wearing black pants and boots and a gold-colored belt, with various bioelectrical parts all around his body. The most notable of these parts are a pair of massive pylons on his back, with electricity occasionally sparking from them. The green-skinned being spoke upon seeing his comrade return.

"Sky Runner. Do you have anything to report?" The werewolf-Sky Runner-shook his head in answer, at which the green-skinned being nodded in acknowledgment.

"Good. It would not do well for the natives to learn of our existence, lest we attract unwanted company. Our resources are stretched thin as it is."

Just as he finished saying that, he heard a beeping sound from one of the few working machines in their possession, and the being quickly checked the cause of the disturbance. What he saw made his eyes widen in curiosity and surprise before he turned to his comrades.

"It would seem that fortune is on our side today. I have just picked up an energy signature very similar to the discharge of a Null Void generator. It may take some time, but whoever came through the disturbance and whatever cause it may finally allow us to return to our home dimension."

Both his comrades perked up at that announcement. For almost a year now, they had been trapped in this alternate dimension of Earth after their master's attempt to conquer Earth was thwarted by the Tennyson family. They had been trying to make do as well as they could, but their resources on this tiny island were limited, and only a few pieces of machinery came through with them when they were trapped, leaving them unable to find a way home.

With luck, that would change very soon, and they could return home and exact their revenge on the brats who trapped them in this world.

* * *

While that was going on in another dimension, someone in this dimension felt his meditation interrupted by a distortion in the fabric of the universe. The person in question is a pale-skinned man with a white skull tattoo covering his entire face, wearing a hooded, dark-red vest that exposed his chest, a black choker around his throat, black pants and a black belt, and three star-shaped tattoos on each of his upper arms. His birth-name is unknown, but he goes by Hex, and he is a very powerful dark magician who desires more power for himself and more knowledge of the mystic world. He was also a recurring enemy of the Tennyson family last year.

Hex first encountered the Tennysons in New Orleans when he attempted to use the Charms of Bezel to open an ancient book called the Archamada Codex, granting him access to spells of unimaginable power. However, the charms were destroyed and the book taken from him by the Tennyson family, specifically the children Benjamin and Gwendolyn, who were able to destroy the charms and deprive him of most of his mystic abilities. He would encounter the Tennysons twice again that summer, the third encounter resulting in him being trapped in the body of an infant for several weeks. After recovering from that humiliating encounter, Hex decided to retreat to his hidden castle lair to re-study some of his techniques should he ever encounter them again.

That had been several months ago, and with no real need to leave his lair he hadn't encountered the children since the incident at the Fountain of Youth. Things had been relatively normal for him since then...until he just now felt a massive ripple in the universal fabric, one of non-mystical origins. This disturbed him greatly, but it also gave him a potential opportunity. If he could find whoever or whatever caused such as powerful distortion, it could grant him even greater power and finally give him the edge needed to beat the Tennyson children should he encounter them again.

However, he would need some time to study the distortion in greater clarity as well as find a possible way to recreate the distortion in controlled circumstances, neither of which he could do alone. Fortunately, he had no problems in that regard.

"Uncle, there's something I need to speak to you about." As if on cue, Hex turned to see his niece Charmcaster, a 16-year-old teenage woman with magenta eyes and silver hair tied in a ponytail, clad in a magenta coat and purple long-boots. From the worried look on her face, Hex had a good idea what she wanted to speak to him about.

"Am I to assume that you also felt a disturbance in the fabric of the universe, as I did?" Charmcaster's eyes widened slightly but she nodded in confirmation, prompting Hex to continue.

"It seems we may now have an opportunity to exploit. Once we learn the cause of this disturbance and learn how to recreate it, we may be able to access powers greater then what we already possess."

Charmcaster's face darkened ever so slightly. "Enough to gain revenge on those who wronged us?"

She was of course referring to Adwaita, the being who killed her father, and the Tennyson family, especially Gwen Tennyson. Hex gave a small smile and responded with "More then enough my apprentice."

Without wasting a second, Hex and Charmcaster began preparations to locate the disturbance. If all went well, then they would have the power necessary to finally end their enemies and take what's rightfully theirs...and woe to anyone who dares stand in their way.

* * *

**All right, the first of the new Dragons and Aliens chapter is up with some big expansions and improvements; let me know what you think and if there's anything wrong. I apologize if this chapter seems kinda short and over-descriptive (the latter's something that happens to me a lot), but keep in mind this is still the first chapter, and it's a good bit longer then the original first chapter. I look forward to all reviews and comments unless they involve flaming; if you don't like this story, then just go read something else, it's that simple.**

**Next chapter, Ben and Gwen encounter dragons on the island and learn that some have actually been tamed by local humans. However, they get separated from each other when Ben goes after a very dangerous and powerful dragon: the Skrill. Gwen meets up with some of the local dragon riders and quickly befriends them and agrees to help them find the Skrill and keep it from the hands of Dagur the Deranged, with neither side knowing that Ben is stuck with the Skrill...in human form. While all that's happening, Max tries to figure out how to repair the Null Void Projector when he is captured by someone very interested in the device...and is an old enemy of the Tennysons.**

**I won't ask you to read the rest of the story if you don't want to, but I would really appreciate it if any viewers who read this chapter come back to read the next chapter. Until next time, this has been the Prime Writer, signing out and hoping for reviews.**


	2. First Meetings and First Fights

**Thank you everyone, I now have almost 300 views and several extra reviews, a very welcome change from previous events; I would also like to apologize for sounding so impatient and ticked off during my note, that was an overreaction on my part and I promise to not let that happen again. I would especially like to thank Megadracosaurus, DragonDude23, New Universe Returns, UltraJohn567, and Bigby the**** Big Bad Wolf for being the first to leave reviews for this story, and for being some of the first to read it.**

**Anything having to do with Ben 10 belongs to Man of Action and Cartoon Network, and anything related to Dreamworks Dragons belongs to Dreamworks Animation and Cartoon Network. The stories and situations depicted in this story will be modified by me and are for entertainment purposes only, with no intention of making a profit from these chapters. Reviews, comments, and constructive criticisms are welcomed and appreciated, while any flames I find will be ignored and forgotten; I will ask that no one leaves any flames, and if you don't like this story, then just go read something else.**

**Now that this is all out of the way, we can get on with the story, and I now present to you the second chapter of Dragons and Aliens 2.0; read and review if you like it, ignore it and don't flame if you don't like it.**

* * *

Chapter 2: First Meetings and First Fights

* * *

"Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?" Ben had been asking that same question for several minutes now, specifically since they entered the forest, and it was really getting on Gwen's nerves.

"No, no, no, no, and NO! We haven't gotten anywhere yet and constantly asking questions like that isn't helping anything."

Ben sardonically answered with "Hey, you can't blame me for being bored out of my mind. We haven't found anything yet and getting on your nerves is the only way I know of to avoid boredom."

Gwen stared at her cousin with annoyance and slight disbelief etched on her face. "How can you be bored? Just look around you Ben." She gestured to the pine trees and mossy ground around her before taking a deep breath.

"This place is just so peaceful and calming, and the atmosphere feels so surreal. If you take the time to just settle down and look at the world around you, you just might find that it can be surprisingly easy to avoid boredom."

Ben seemed to think for a moment before shrugging nonchalantly. "My mom and dad tried to tell me the same thing, it didn't really work." Gwen face-palmed in annoyance and uttered "I forgot who I was talking to." before continuing ahead. She walked several paces before a thought crossed her mind and she turned back to Ben.

"Hey, how come you didn't just turn into an alien that could save us some walking time?"

Now it was Ben's turn to face-palm, much to Gwen's amusement, and Ben wasn't appreciative of her snickering. "I could just not go alien at all and we could keep walking until our feet go numb." She stopped laughing but the smirk was still there.

Ben opened up the Omnitrix and searched through his current roster before settling on a suitable form. He pressed down the Omnitrix and was instantly enveloped in a bright green light. When the light faded, Ben had turned into a massive, orange, dog-like creature with large teeth and claws, gill-like slits on the side of his neck, numerous small quills covering its skin, a grey-colored Omnitrix symbol on a shoulder pad on the left shoulder, and no eyes whatsoever. That alien is a Vulpimancer named Wildmutt, one of the first aliens Ben ever turned into and one of his personal favorites.

Gwen looked at her transformed cousin with some satisfaction. "This'll work okay, just don't go too fast." Ben, as Wildmutt, grunted in reply, being unable to speak in this form. Gwen climbed on her cousin's back and secured herself before Wildmutt took off at a steady pace.

Having no eyes meant that Wildmutt found his way around with extremely high senses of hearing and smell, supplemented by the slits on his neck. He could hear the chittering of birds and squirrels in the trees, the rustle of plant-life as it was disturbed, the grunting of distant boars far from the path he was making. After a few minutes of walking, Wildmutt stopped when he picked up an unsettling smell, one that he'd only picked up a few times before during his time as a hero: the smell of blood. Gwen noticed her cousin's tensing demeanor and started getting concerned.

"What's going on? What're you picking up?" Ben didn't have time to respond, and instead changed direction and charged towards the source of the blood he was smelling. As Wildmutt got closer to the source, he was relieved to learn that the blood was not from a human, but he was also curious about a couple other smells he was picking up; ionized oxygen, which would only happen if electricity was sparking in open air, and scorched earth, as if lightning had struck the ground in multiple places.

Gwen was confused by her cousins reaction but could hardly speak since he was moving so fast. "Whoa! Ben, where are you going!?" Ben paid no heed to his cousin's shouts, his instincts telling him to head towards the source of the blood as fast as possible. Wildmutt sprinted across the ground and leaped over any obstacle in his path, eventually knocking Gwen off his back without him realizing.

Gwen was stunned by the sudden fall, but maintained enough sense to yell at her rapidly vanishing cousin. "Ben you oversized jerk! Get back here!" Unfortunately, her shouts went unanswered by the boy-turned-Vulpimancer, causing her to growl in annoyance as she picked herself off the ground. "He'd better have a really good explanation for running off like that and leaving me in the middle of an unknown forest."

* * *

For Wildmutt, finding Gwen was the furthest thing from his mind. Something about the smells had disturbed him and he's going to find out what they are, no matter how much trouble he might be in. After a few minutes of running, he arrived at the source of the smells, a large sheep ranch with a few people taking shelter in a large barn, and focused on the source of the ionized oxygen: a massive winged reptile, looking a lot like a dragon.

Ben couldn't tell the color of the beast without eyes, but he could discern the creature's long tail, the large wings in place of forearms, the small spines on the creatures head-frill, the much larger spines on its back and tail, and the large head with eyes near the very end of it. Said creature was tearing the ranch apart and eating all the sheep it could find, and it was getting closer to where the people were hiding; there was a chance they could get hurt, and that is something that Wildmutt will not happen.

Wildmutt roared at the beast to get its attention, and the dragon-creature turned its body towards Wildmutt. Despite being confused by the arrival of this strange new adversary, the Skrill roared right back at the creature and prepared itself for a fight. Wildmutt made the first move, charging at the creature and jumping in the air in hopes of pinning the creature to the ground, but the dragon moved too fast and side-stepped just as Wildmutt landed on the ground. Wildmutt quickly recovered and turned to face the dragon, which now had electricity dancing across its skin and looked ready to charge. They charged at the same time and met each other head-on, Wildmutt gaining the upper hand due to having greater strength, but he was was then forced to back off when the dragon generated a large electrical surge. The dragon quickly put that extra range to its advantage and fired off several blasts of electrical energy, which his opponent quickly dodged as it made its way forward again.

It was during the second collision that Gwen caught up with Ben, but she immediately ducked behind a shrub upon seeing what her transformed cousin was fighting. Looking up from her hiding place, Gwen witnessed the dragon-at least that's what she thinks it is-being pushed back by her cousin until it hops back even further, unbalancing Wildmutt and giving the dragon a chance to tackle her cousin. Wildmutt started thrashing its body around in an attempt to get the beast off, but it had a strong grip and held on tight. However, all that thrashing prevented the dragon from getting in a decent attack, making it a question of which beast has the best stamina.

Gwen looked at the barn located near the field and noticed that part of the roof was burning and some of its foundations were partially destroyed, most likely having been damaged by the electrical dragon currently being fought by her cousin. Over the sounds of Ben's battle, she could hear at least a couple people within the collapsing building, unable to get out due to some debris blocking the door...and even more debris was falling from the barn's collapsing roof. Without a second thought, she readied her magic and ran towards the barn and readied to rescue the occupants.

Flinging the door open, she saw that there were some flames spreading through the inside of the house causing a thick veil of smoke to spread across the floor. She forced the debris to one side with her mystic energy and saw a small family huddled near the back of the room, consisting of a little girl with blond hair, a red-haired adult women, and a bald, well-muscled man with a blond mustache on his face and a spear in his hands, and all three of them were wearing what appeared to be traditional Viking clothing. Gwen was mildly confused by their garb but pushed it aside for now and focused on rescuing them; she could focus on who they were afterwards.

Forcing back some of the flames with her mystic energy, Gwen cleared a path for the family to move through the flames. "I've cleared a path for you to move through, but you need to hurry." She had no idea if the understood her language, but there'd be time to work that out later.

The family was understandably confused by the arrival of this girl and the fuchsia-colored walls she generated, but nonetheless took the chance to escape and rushed out as soon as they could. Gwen was about to follow them, but the man with the spear stopped her and gestured to some nearby barrels which were close to the flames. With mild confusion, Gwen blocked the fire from reaching the barrels, after which the man handed the spear to his wife and grabbed a pair of barrels before carrying them out of the burning building.

Gwen couldn't take it anymore and took a chance on them understanding her. "What's so important about those barrels that you're risking your life to save them?"

The man's wife and daughter had left to round up the remaining sheep, but he seemed to understand her question and opened the one of the barrels to reveal a thick black substance..._tar_. Her eyes widened at the implications of what would happen if any of the barrels caught fire, and she quickly created a platform to carry the remaining barrels of flammables out of the collapsing building and set them down a fair distance away. When all that was done, Gwen uttered the words "_Torrentius Aqualias_", summoning a deluge of enchanted water to put out the remaining flames without further damaging the unstable barn.

While all that was happening, Ben and the beast were neck-and-neck, Wildmutt's strength and stamina matching the creatures speed and agility, with neither combatant gaining any ground for very long. Their battle had taken them across and near the seaside cliff, which appeared to be increasingly unstable due to the worsening fight that was taking place. The beast had just climbed on Wildmutt's back and was about to bite into his neck, but Wildmutt grabbed the creature and threw it into a large pine tree near the cliff edge. The dragon sagged to the base of the tree in exhaustion having finally become tired out from its fight with Wildmutt, who roared in victory. Despite its injuries, the dragon got up again and growled at its attacker, prompting Wildmutt to charge at it again while the beast readied itself.

What neither of them realized was that the destabilized ground near the cliff combined with the impact from the dragon meant that the tree was near the tipping point, and that one good push would be the only thing needed to send the tree, and by extension the entire cliffside, tumbling into the ocean. That was exactly what happened when Wildmutt slammed the dragon into the tree again. The impact was so great that half the cliff began falling into the sea, including Wildmutt and the dragon. However, the dragon managed to send off one last burst of electricity...straight at the barrels of tar. Gwen saw this and started putting up an energy shield, but it was going to be a close call.

* * *

While that fight was going on, several other dragons were flying towards the ranch's general location. However, these dragons are actually being ridden by other Vikings, young teenagers in fact, and those teenagers are looking for the very dragon being fought by Ben, the Skrill.

The lead dragon is a jet-black beast with green eyes and a noticeable resemblance to a common house-cat, albeit with wings and scales, and the green-eyed, brown-haired boy on his back is much smaller and scrawnier then the others, wearing a furry vest over a green long-sleeved tunic, green long-pants, and a furry boot on his right foot, with the left foot replaced by a metal prosthetic. That boy is Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, the son of Chief Stoick the Vast and the first person to ever train a dragon. The dragon he's riding is a Night Fury named Toothless, the first dragon to ever form a bond with a human.

To his right is a bright-orange dragon with black markings and a large four-horned head on a comparatively small neck, yellow-orange eyes, a long tail, stocky back legs, and a pair of large wings in place of front legs. The person on his back is a strongly-built black-haired teenager wearing a black fur vest over a tan-colored shirt, a horned-helmet, brown pants, and furry boots.

That person is Snotlout Jorgenson, a typical bully with a large ego, great courage, and secretly a soft heart, and the dragon he's riding is a Monstrous Nightmare named Hookfang.

To Hiccup's far right is a large brown dragon that looks like a 4-way cross between a warthog, a bee, a bulldog, and an ankylosaur, complete with tiny wings, stubby legs, a short tail ending in a massive bludgeoning tool, and bony spikes covering its entire body. On that dragon's back is a rather heavy-set Viking teenager with straw-blond hair under a small helmet, a woolen tunic, forest-green pants, and furry boots.

That person is Fishlegs Ingerman, a nervous but highly intelligent young man and dragon expert of the team, and the dragon he's riding is a female Gronkle named Meatlug.

To Hiccups left is a bright-blue dragon that'd be best described as a cross between a bird and a theropod dinosaur, with yellow-colored bat-like wings, a series of spines ringing its skull, and dozens of smaller spines covering its tail. The Viking on top of that dragon is a fairly attractive young woman with long blond hair tied back in a braided ponytail, long bangs covering her left eye, a leather band on her forehead, a blue sleeveless shirt with metal shoulder-pads, furry boots, and a dark-red skirt with spikes along said skirt.

That person is Astrid Hofferson, 2nd-in-command of the dragon training academy and love-interest of Hiccup, and the dragon she's riding is a female Deadly Nadder named Stormfly.

To Hiccup's far left is a green _two-headed_ dragon with short legs and massive wings on a rather stocky body, the heads mounted on the end of long necks and a long tail that splits down the middle. Unlike the other dragons, this one has two people sitting on it, a girl on the right head and a guy on the left. Both are rather lanky and have pale blue eyes and very long blond hair, and physically share many features other then gender. Their choices of clothing are also fairly similar, both having furry vests over long shirts, furry boots, dragon-tooth pendants around their necks, and decorative helmets with four horns each.

Those Vikings are Ruffnut and Tuffnut, masochistic fraternal twins who enjoy havoc and destruction a little too much, and the dragon their riding is a Hideous Zippleback, the right head named Barf and the left head named Belch.

Since the dragons were first tamed a little over a year ago, Hiccup and his friends have been busy trying to keep the peace between humans and dragons while protecting their home in Berk from wild dragons and hostile tribes such as the Outcasts and the Berserkers. Most recently, they saved a pair of Viking fishermen from a group of marauders from the Berserker Tribe, who were attempting to unleash a frozen dragon from an iceberg. That dragon turned out to be a rare and elusive species known as the Skrill, which has long been feared due to its aggressive temperament and its ability to store lightning in its body so that it can blast its opponents with electricity.

The Berserkers, led by an insane, warmongering young man aptly called Dagur the Deranged, revere the Skrill as the symbol of their tribe, and hope to capture the Skrill for use as a weapon against their opponents. Hiccup's father Stoick ordered his son and the other teens to get the frozen Skrill off of Berk before the Berserkers arrived, but it ended up being accidentally freed from the ice by Ruffnut and Tuffnut. After Stoick told the others that he'd heard stories about Berserkers able to control Skrills, Hiccup and the others began searching the island for any sign of the creature before the Berserkers could get their hands on it; unfortunately, they weren't having very much luck.

Astrid was the first to voice her concerns about the search. "Any idea what we do after we find the Skrill?"

Hiccup's response was in a fairly even tone of voice. "We catch it, we tame it, we train it. Keep it away from Dagur so he never has a chance to get his hands on it, and thus never uses it against us."

Astrid didn't even bother to hide her annoyance at Hiccup's rather vague plan and sarcastically responded with "Oh yeah, that sounds easy enough."

Fishlegs took that opportunity to speak up. "Actually, the Skrill does have some weaknesses. According to The Book of Dragons, the Skrill can't use its lightning if its even mildly wet, otherwise it'll hurt itself with its own stored lightning."

That information brought a small smile to Hiccups face. "Well that's a start." Before he could continue, Snotlout flew up and expressed his annoyance.

"No, a start would be having any idea where the stupid thing is. We've been circling the island for hours and I'm starving."

Hiccup thought about what Snotlout had just said before an idea came to him. "Snotlout you just said something unintentionally brilliant."

"Of course I did." The words were out of Snotlout's mouth before a look of confusion crossed his face. "What'd I say again?" Hiccup noticed his confusion and decided to elaborate. "When you get up in the morning, what's the very first thing you want to do?"

Snotlout thought for a second before he responded. "Well, usually I have to..." Hiccup cut off Snotlout with an annoyed tone of voice. "No, after that."

Snotlout face-palmed before he responded with "Eat of course. Who in their right mind would start the day without a decent breakfast?"

Hiccup responded with "Exactly" before looking at Fishlegs. "Fishlegs, what's the Skrill's main food of choice?" Before Fishlegs could answer, they were mildly startled by the sound of a large explosion occurring not too far from where they were.

Naturally, the Twins were the first to speak after that event, Tuffnut speaking first from his seat on Belch. "Whoa, that sounded like a huge explosion, and for once we didn't cause it."

Ruffnut, sitting on the head named Barf, spoke up after her brother. "Yeah, we're missing out on all the fun."

Hiccup and the others remained more serious then the twins, Astrid speaking first. "That sounded like it came from Silent Sphen's sheep ranch." Now knowing the most probable location of the Skrill, Hiccup and the others turned in that direction. When they arrived, they saw a massive fire brewing over part of the ranch, part of the cliff falling into the ocean, and most surprisingly, a red-haired girl trying to put out the fire by herself while protecting Silent Sphen and his family.

Fishlegs was the first to voice his curiosity. "Uh, who in the name of Thor is that?" Snotlout answered that with "No idea, but she's got a lot of guts."

Astrid directed everyone's attention to the worsening blaze. "All the guts of Thor won't be of help against that blaze."

Hiccup quickly agreed with his friend's statement. "Astrid's right, we have to save those people and help contain that fire before it spreads to the rest of the island."

With that, all the dragon-riders flew down to help the stranger stop the blaze. Astrid and Fishlegs flew down on their dragons to save Silent Sphen and his family while Hiccup and Toothless approached the red-haired girl, who looked up at him in mild curiosity. "Get on Toothless and I'll get you to safety!"

She seemed surprised when he spoke to her but quickly nodded and grabbed his outstretched hand, allowing him to pull her onto Toothless. She spoke in relief as soon as she was away from the fire. "I am so glad you guys came along, and there are a ton of questions I need to ask."

Hiccup looked back at her with a more serious face. "I hope you don't mind me asking a question first, but how did that fire appear?" Privately, Hiccup believed that the Skrill caused the fire, but it never hurt to check otherwise.

"I was helping those people when some sort of dragon shot a blast of electricity at us, but instead it hit a bunch of barrels filled with tar." Hiccup's eyes widened when he heard what she said, and he quickly turned towards his friends.

"Some of the Skrill's lightning hit the spare tar we use for roof-repairs; that's what caused the fire. We need to start a backfire to burn that one out. Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Snotlout, you guys start first and create a smaller fire in front of the larger fire before forcing them together."

The Twins grinned in excitement and flew Barf and Belch towards the blaze, Snotlout and Hookfang close behind them. Once they were close enough, Ruffnut had Barf let out a large amount of gas before Tuffnut had Belch ignite said gas, resulting in a fair-sized explosion. Snotlout had Hookfang add fuel to the fire by spewing a sort of flaming liquid before flapping his wings to push the smaller fire towards the larger one. Both fires started losing energy, but there wasn't enough wind to put out most of the remaining flames.

The new girl spoke to everyone in a confident voice. "Hey guys! I think have an idea to get rid of the fire, you're going to need to back off for a little bit and set me down near the flames."

Most of them looked at her like she was insane, and Fishlegs was the first to make his reluctance known. "You sure about that? Those flames are still pretty big and we do not want anyone getting hurt."

The girl remained adamant about her choice. "Just trust me, I know what I'm doing." Hiccup was about to protest, but one look in her forest-green eyes showed him that she wasn't just willing and able...she'd been in similar situations before and really does know what to do.

With that in mind, Hiccups made his decision and turned towards the others. "Everyone back away from the fire. I'm going to drop her near the flames and let her do her thing."

Astrid was not shy about making her discomfort known. "We don't even know what her 'thing' is! What makes you think she can put that blaze out by herself?" Hiccup's response was a simple "Just trust me."

He then directed Toothless towards the edge of the blaze while the others reluctantly backed off. Hiccup let the mysterious girl off of Toothless and looked at her with a worried expression. "I really hope you know what you're doing." She said nothing as he flew back to his friends, meaning none of them heard her chant "_Teewat Ligara_", which summoned a silver-colored whirlwind from out of nowhere. Instantly, the fires started to diminish as the whirlwind literally blew them out like candles, while Hiccup and other the dragon-riders watched in awe. Not only had this strange girl summoned a small tornado from nowhere, but they weren't experiencing any disruption from the whirlwind, as if it wasn't even there.

Within minutes, the flames had died out and the barn was still in repairable condition, prompting Hiccup to summon the others to where the girl was standing. The Twins were the first to speak when they reached solid ground, specifically Tuffnut. "That was awesome! Did you guys see that cool tornado she summoned?"

Not surprisingly, Ruffnut quickly agreed with her brother's statement. "Do you know what would've been even cooler?" Tuffnut answered with an excited "If we were in the tornado.", after which they banged their heads against each other.

The girl looked at Hiccup with a confused expression. "Are they always like this?" He answered with "Some days more then others." Any further talk was halted when Fihslegs walked up to them with an expression of cautious curiosity.

"Uh, I don't mean to sound rude or anything, but how in Odin's Beard were you able to create that tornado from nowhere!?"

Gwen sighed in self-annoyance; she'd been so preoccupied with trying to help that she completely forgot to think about what would happen if all these new people saw her use her powers. "It's a really long story and I promise to tell you as much as I can."

Hiccup was the first to bring some calm to the confusion. "Lets start this thing off with each others names." He then looked at the red-haired girl and gestured to himself and his friends. "My name's Hiccup, and my friends are Astrid, Fishlegs, Snotlout, Ruffnut, and Tuffnut."

Gwen raised an eyebrow at some of their names but didn't say anything. "Alright, my name's Gwen. Gwen Tennyson."

* * *

Just out to sea, barely out of sight of Gwen and the dragon riders, the tree that got knocked over during Wildmutt's fight with the Skrill was floating on the endless expanse of the sea, with nothing around it to break the monotony of the waves...until a hand grasped part of the trunk, after which came a soaked, chilly Ben Tennyson. "Cold, cold, cold, cold, COLD! Oh man this is cold water! Very cold, very cold!"

Right after Ben and that creature he was fighting fell into the ocean, the Omnitrix timed out and Wildmutt turned back into Ben, who proceeded to climb on the nearest large object in an attempt to get out of the chilly ocean water. Right before he could do so, he felt something bite the back of his lower left leg right where it connected to his ankle, and he pulled up his foot to see that an eel had attached itself to his leg. Ben slammed his leg and foot against the log until the eel's skull was crushed, after which he pulled it of his leg and tossed it up on the log, at the same time uttering "Stupid eel."

Ben took off his wet shirt and shoes and set them down on a dry portion of the log before wrapping his arms around his body in an attempt to warm up. He just sat like that for a few seconds before he saw something else climb up on the log...something big. That thing turned out to be the same dragon Ben fought as Wildmutt, having been knocked into the ocean along with Wildmutt. Now that Ben has his eyes back, he noticed that the dragon was mostly a dark-grey color with purple markings on the wings and back, a pale underbelly, and red-colored slitted pupils...pupils that were currently focused on Ben.

Ben's breath hitched as the soggy, cranky, hungry creature growled at him and began approaching him. With the Omnitrix timed out, Ben grabbed the only other object that he could use as a possible weapon: the dead eel. He grabbed it by the tail and held it out to the dragon while speaking in an unsure voice. "Uh, stay back."

Surprisingly, the dragon backed away from the eel with wide eyes and a startled hiss, prompting Ben to look at his 'weapon' with a confused expression. Out of curiosity, Ben moved towards the dragon with the eel outstretched, causing the dragon to move back just as much. When Ben backed away, the dragon moved forward towards Ben. Deciding to not test his luck anymore, Ben laid the slimy eel laterally on the log and spoke to the dragon.

"There, you have your side of the log, and I have mine." Ben wondered why he was speaking to a dragon that would sooner eat him then listen to him, but the dragon seemed to reluctantly accept the conditions and settled down on his part of the log, prompting Ben to relax just a little bit. Taking the chance to look at his surroundings, Ben saw that the island where he fought the dragon was getting smaller and smaller, and there were no other islands in sight; swimming definitely wasn't an option. He sighed and looked at the dragon before saying "We're going to be stuck with each other for a good long while, aren't we?" The dragon growled as if in agreement.

* * *

**Chapter 2 of Dragons and Aliens is here, hot and ready. Come and get it! I hope this was an enjoyable chapter, and I tried to make it as enjoyable as I could make it; to that end, I put in the first dragon, Ben's first transformation into an alien, and some of the first bits of action. If anything seems out-of-place or inconsistent, then I apologize and will do my best to fix it. It was originally going to be a bit longer, but I decided to not make it too long so that I could get it updated faster. Let me know what you thought of everything and if there's anything you think I need to improve on, and I will do my best to fix any mistake I've made.**

**In this chapter, Ben and Gwen have gotten their first taste of what to expect in this world...Viking farmers and dragons that shoot lightning; that'll take some time for them to get used to, and it'll probably be the same with the Vikings towards Ben and his aliens. B****en and Gwen ended up getting separated from each other and are experiencing different adventures; Gwen's met up a group of Viking teenagers who actually ride dragons, while Ben is stuck floating on a log in the ocean with a very grouchy, very hungry dragon...yeah, that won't go so swimmingly.**

**Will Ben and the Skrill find any common ground and get back to shore before they starve? What will Gwen think of the dragon-riders and what will they think of her? What'll Dagur the Deranged think when he first sees one of Ben's alien transformations? You'll have to wait to see the answers in the next chapter of Dragons and Aliens; oh, and please be sure to leave a review if you can, they're an important source of critique and inspiration for any author.**


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